Its been a busy two years.
It's been a busy two years. John Moore / Getty Images Staff

Insurance commissioner says “I feel bad” about racial slur accusations. Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is accused of various misdeeds involving offensive, racist, or just plain rude comments and behavior. You can read the specifics here — it’s pretty bad! If you have a feeling he might've offered a half-hearted non-apology that starts with the word "if," why, then you must be psychic. Update: In a statement released this morning, he issued a more direct but still defensive apology, saying, "It pains me deeply to think that the careless words I have used in the past—even if infrequent—could have hurt someone. I am sorry for any pain I have caused and for taking attention away from the accomplishments and efforts of the people I work with here at the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC)."

The only way this could be more ironic is if the woman hit by the car was named Cassandra. In news that absolutely nobody could have foreseen, there were reports that the driver of a car ran over a woman walking through Pike Place Market on Sunday. According to a witness on Twitter, the driver tried to flee, but someone ran after the vehicle and smashed their window with a hammer. Cops arrived and arrested the driver and the good samaritan who stopped them — great work guys! This is the status quo that traffic-defenders Tom Graff, Ernie Dornfeld and Peter Steinbrueck described last week as “success,” “essential to the health of the retail,” and “zesty.” ZESTY! If the victim winds up getting a cast, she should ask those three guys to sign it.

Independent journalist Ryan Packer followed up with the narrative from the cops:

Higher-than-usual death toll in Easter shootings this year. Someone with a gun killed two kids and injured eight people at a party on Sunday in Pittsburgh. In other holiday weekend mass shootings, four were injured in Philadelphia on Sunday; one person was killed and three injured in Sacramento; nine were injured at a bar in South Carolina; one person was killed and four injured in Syracuse; four were injured in Las Vegas; one person is dead and three injured in Baltimore. That’s a total of 5 dead, 35 injured. Over Easter weekend in 2021, four were killed and 32 injured. Easter 2020 saw only 6 injured since everyone was still quarantining at that point. Easter 2019 saw no deaths and 19 injured. Easter 2018 saw 1 person killed and 14 injured.

Here’s an Amazon rep tearing down union information. A great look for the company!


The freeway plot thickens! A coalition of transportation equity groups has formed to push for a more climate-friendly rebuild of the old bridge from Washington into Oregon. The Interstate Bridge Replacement program has been a massive headache for years, with some groups pushing for a massive mega-freeway and others suggesting that perhaps it would be a bad thing to invite more fossil-fuel infrastructure to kill us all.

Cafe Nervosa never had problems like this. The Starbucks at 5th and Pike is on strike — fortunately it’s within walking distance of Victrola, Gourmondo, Armistice, and Cafe Ladro. Donate to the worker relief fund here.

So, what’s the deal with that social housing ballot initiative? Affordable housing, managed by a public entity, where nobody pays more than 30% of their income in rent? Sounds like a filthy communist plot to me! Read all about it here. Signature gathering for I-135 starts tomorrow.

A little off the top. Here’s a nice profile on a guy who gives haircuts to unhoused people. If you’d like to help him out, check out his Amazon wishlist here:

Farmers Market vouchers are available now. If you’re over 60 (or over 55 if you’re American Indian/Alaska Native), your income falls below $2,096/month (or $2,923 for a two-person household), and you’re a resident of King County, then you can get $40 vouchers for King County farmers markets. Details and application here; seasonal markets resume May 4 (in Columbia City) and throughout June in Lake City, Magnolia, and (after a two-year closure) Phinney.

One singular Seattle. If you haven’t yet, fill out the One Seattle Plan survey with your most extreme urbanist takes. Ban all cars! Demolish single-family homes! Replace all of Wallingford with one enormous skyscraper that takes up the whole neighborhood!

Meet your new top cop. King County will hold two online forums this week to introduce the three final candidates for the job of King County Sheriff. The finalists are Patti Cole-Tindall, interim sheriff; Charles Kimble, chief of police in Killeen, Texas; and Reginald Moorman with the Atlanta Police Department. The first forum is tonight from 6 to 8pm, and the second is Thursday from 9 to 11 pm.

Ready for some nature? It’s not my cup of tea, but I’ve heard that some people enjoy the “outside,” wherever that is. If you’d like to go hiking or camping but don’t own any gear, the Washington Trails Association has compiled a handy guide to rental options here.

A little handy advice. I crossed and uncrossed my legs sixteen times while reading this thread and the replies.

Finally, a place to get a gay bagel. Alas, you’ll have to schlep down to Tacoma for it. A new gay shop called Howdy Bagel will open this summer in Tacoma, a project that began as a West Seattle-based subscription service. It’s a pop-and-pop shop run by married bakers Jake Carter and Daniel Blagovich, and I’m now more impatient than ever for Sound Transit to complete light rail service to Tacoma (currently scheduled for 2032).

Is Seattle safe? “So. You know. That’s a tough question,” is how Mayor-for-now Bruce Harrell answered that question at a press conference last week. When asked about his plan for tackling homelessness, he said he’ll reveal it “in a matter of weeks.” Wow, he must be working really hard on it! Here’s a take from Mike McGinn, who is still mayor of Seattle in the parallel universe I wish I was in.

Respectability is for five-star hotels, not people. The Kids in the Hall reboot has a new trailer, with the series dropping on Amazon May 13.